Press Briefing: BSkyB faces film price enquiry

CBS.MarketWatch.com

LONDON (CBS.MW) -- The Independent Television Commission -- a U.K. watchdog -- is planning to begin a formal investigation into the way British Sky Broadcasting PLC bundles its film channels, amid allegations that the broadcaster is pricing them anti-competitively. According to Britain's Guardian newspaper, the inquiry, pencilled in for an official start during the crucial autumn sales period, will open a new front in the battle between BSkyB
BSY, -15.00%
and regulators as the cable industry gears up to launch its digital television and shopping services.The Guardian

PARIS (CBS.MW) -- Philippe Jaffre, chairman of Elf Aquitaine SA, the French oil group, hit back Thursday at the hostile $42.9 billion takeover bid launched this week by TotalFina SA, its Franco-Belgium rival. According to the Financial Times, Jaffre said he was convinced the bid would fail. In a strongly worded and emotional address to an estimated 200-300 senior executives at Elf's La Defense headquarters, Jaffre said TotalFina
TOT, -0.26%
was coming to Elf
ELF, -1.55%
to "look for what it lacks." Financial Times

SEATTLE (CBS.MW) -- The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed fining Boeing Co. $392,000 for allegedly failing to report a safety problem on 757 jetliners until a year after it was discovered. According to The Wall Street Journal, the FAA says Boeing
BA, +0.81%
failed to report the problem within 24 hours, as required by federal rules. Boeing, however, contends it wasn't clear until much later that the problem was serious enough to fall under that requirement. In another safety matter, Boeing shut down all overhead cranes in part of its Renton assembly plant after an operator found a 15-inch crack in a rail used to transfer the massive cranes from one section of the building to another. The Wall Street Journal

Webvan taps Bechtel to build automated facilities

FOSTER CITY, Calif. (CBS.MW) -- Webvan Group Inc., a fast-growing online grocery merchant, is placing a $1 billion order for Bechtel Group to build highly automated warehouses in 26 markets across the U.S. The Wall Street Journal reported that the two-year Bechtel deal represents one of the most ambitious spending programs to date by an Internet-based business. People familiar with Webvan's strategy told the Journal that the company plans to finance its expansion with the sale of as much as $1 billion in junk bonds over the next year, along with an attempt at taking the closely held company public. The Wall Street Journal

A.S. Goldmen indicted in stock fraud

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Prosecutors and federal regulators continued their crackdown on fraud in tiny stocks, arresting 33 individuals and indicting a small brokerage firm for alleged abuses involving thousands of mainly small investors. The New York County district attorney and the Securities and Exchange Commission, in a joint news conference, said the now-inactive brokerage firm A.S. Goldmen & Co. of Naples, Fla., and formerly of New York, and several of its former officials bilked investors of nearly $100 million through several tactics. The Goldmen case is the latest action in a sweep in recent years of securities operations dealing primarily in penny, or microcap, stocks. The Wall Street Journal

BankBoston CEO wins in Fleet buyout

BOSTON (CBS.MW) -- BankBoston Corp.
BKB, +5.83%
Chief Executive Charles K. Gifford negotiated a rich compensation package after agreeing in March to sell his company to Fleet Financial Inc.
FLT, +0.82%
adding a golden parachute of as much as $15 million if he's forced out of the company. Fleet in a proxy statement filed Thursday said Gifford will receive 300,000 shares of restricted stock, worth $13.2 million at Fleet's current share price of about $44, after the merger. Gifford said 75,000 of those shares -- now worth $3.3 million -- would be donated to a charitable foundation. The restrictions will be entirely lifted by Dec. 31, 2002. The Wall Street Journal

Swissair shopping for Portuguese air carrier

ZURICH (CBS.MW) -- Swissair is expected to acquire 49 percent of Portugália, Portugal's second largest airline, this week in a deal that could lead to the Swiss carrier taking a stake in TAP-Air Portugal, the national airline. Portugal's Espírito Santo financial group was preparing to sell its 80 percent holding in Portugália in a deal that values the airline at Es20bn (E100m, $102m), bankers said. Swissair would buy 49 percent, the maximum a non-European Union company can acquire in an E.U. airline, they said. Partest, a Portuguese state holding company, and Banco Comercial Português, the country's largest private-sector financial group, would purchase the remaining 31 percent. Financial Times

E.U. commissioner faces court proceedings

BRUSSELS (CBS.MW) -- E.U. governments are expected to endorse a decision today to take Martin Bangemann, the E.U.'s industry and telecommunications commissioner, to the European Court of Justice over his decision to take a board position with Telefónica SA
TEF, +1.99%
the Spanish telecoms group. E.U. ambassadors Thursday agreed to ask the court to judge whether he had breached the E.U.'s founding treaty in his decision last week to quit his post and accept the highly paid job. The move could invlove a possible conflict of interest. Financial Times

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